Java Blow by Blow - Knocked Down After Huge Quarter Loss

Just when things were looking brighter for Java, a big blow knocks it down.

More than anything else, despite wondering out loud what would happen to MySQL in view of Oracle's interest to acquire Sun, I'm more concerned about what would happen to Java.

Not only what would happen to Java after an acquisition but what would happen to Java regardless of whether any acquisition does in fact take place.

I'm not a programmer; not by a long shot. But I've long been fascinated by the write-once-read-anywhere concept that Java has touted ever since its inception in 1995. But with the way things are going at Sun, it appears that Java, despite its ubiquity, is facing its biggest challenge yet.

Because of this, I've decided to dedicate a small portion of each day to give you a blow by blow account of its progress on the ring. In one corner we'll have Java. In the other, The Nothing (that's the nick of Mr. Extinction).

Let's begin!

Round 1:

No doubt Oracle's interest in Sun raised Java followers' hopes many levels higher than they were when IBM decided to ditch their own.

However, The Nothing just gave a thundering blow on Java's jaw: Sun just reported a deep 3rd Quarter plunge.

Java's back on its feet but is looking pretty dazed.

ding!

That should be the end of the round. I'm glad it is... I'm feeling pretty dazed myself.

Java's saved by the bell but many in the audience are wondering if we'll still be seeing Oracle when the bell rings to usher the next round.

This is going to be an action packed fight, so stay with me.

After Oracle Acquires Sun, What's the Future of MySQL?

One of the biggest questions that the open source community might well be asking after Oracle's recent acquisition of Sun: what will happen to MySQL?

MySQL is one of the most successful open source relational database management systems (RDBMS) ever. Since its first release in 1995, the program has been skyrocketing to ubiquity, taking pride in at least 11 million installations in various company back-ends.

When MySQL AB, the company that owned the database program, merged with Sun early last year, some sectors thought it was a start of something big. But as the months progressed, we saw departures of some of the old MySQL bigwigs. A sign that all was not well. Disagreements regarding directions perhaps?

Now, with this latest development, we won't be surprised if the direction that Oracle takes would not suit the MySQL community well. Oracle has its own line of database systems and the most impressive ones at that. Sure we can imagine that they'll be receiving Sun's Java with open arms.

But to be as warm to a competing product?

Still, if you really think about it, the conditions might just be right to do so. With the state of the economy, many companies are sure to look for inexpensive alternatives for their database needs. Now, when you talk about inexpensive options, two are sure to stand out: PostgreSQL and MySQL. This should be reason enough for Oracle to retain MySQL. At least for the time being.

The answer as to what they would do with it when the economy stabilizes can wait.

Cloud Based and Open Source - Can Business Intelligence Get Any Cheaper Than This?

Just yesterday (April 7, 2009), Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Pentaho Corporation announced that they would undertake an "On Demand BI Solutions" project together. While I haven't thoroughly studied the implications of this partnership, I tried to do a little research on what an "On Demand BI solution" was in the first place. Then it just dawned on me ... out there, already ripe for the picking (not necessarily the product that these guys were selling) are cloud based open source business intelligence solutions. WOW.

Let me try to put this all in a nutshell.

Cloud based & Open Source & Business Intelligence - Just the basic ingredients you would need to cook up an unbeatable solution geared towards streamlining operations especially on the network to subsequently bring down costs. Let's look at them individually to appreciate what kind of advantage a combination of these three brings to businesses faced with the onslaught of economic challenges (global financial crisis or not).

Business Intelligence (BI)

BI is the answer to a business that relies heavily on being able to process a flood of information in order to meet the demands of its clients. The telecommunications business easily comes to mind here. With the rapid development of numerous technologies (like 2G, 3G, 2.5G, HSDPA), standards (GSM and CDMA), the rapidly increasing number of users, and the various types of data (audio, video and text), it is clear that a capable solution has to be in place to make sense of it all. 

Only when all this information is collated and presented in a manner that can help top executives make the right decisions, can a telecommunications company hope to survive in such a challenging environment. Decision makers should be able to pinpoint what's hot and what's not or what products and services are giving them bigger profits. This is where BI comes in. It acts like a traffic management system that deals with bumper-to-bumper traffic without having to widen the streets. Sometimes, all it takes to diffuse traffic jams are re-routing schemes and one way streets. And that's how BI operates.

With BI, operations are streamlined, thus preventing unnecessary expenses.

Cloud Based BI

If you think BI by itself is already a great way to cut on operational expenses, then you're right. But you'd be awed with the possibilities that a cloud based BI solution can bring. When computing is moved to the cloud, no longer will you need your own servers or expensive hardware... yes, no more rooms to cool them in as well. Sure, you'll need workstations but they'll be understandably much less costly. That's because the applications that your people will be using will be less power hungry as all the needed computations are done elsewhere.

What's more, with your data in the cloud, you'll be able to access them anywhere you go for as long as you're online. Not only that, you can manage, configure, and monitor your system and generate reports as well ... again, from virtually any place on the globe. 

The application you'll need to do all these? ... a web browser. That's right: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Google's Chrome.

Open Source Cloud Based BI

Have you been doing computations in your head? If you have, I won't be surprised if you've started drooling over the implications brought forth so far. Can it get any better than this? I'm glad you asked. With all these features and advantages, you'd think the company who'd be offering these services would make a killing on licensing fees. Well, some. But not all. This is, after all, a world blessed with open source. 

So, yes, as I've lately discovered, there are open source, cloud based business intelligence solutions. With no more license fees to worry about, you can bring down capital expenditures. And with all the cost-saving benefits mentioned earlier, it would be very difficult to say no to such a solution. Not everyone needs this, but those who do should very well start studying their options. This is definitely one advantage you wouldn't want your competition have a head start on.